Health and Medicine Blog

Tobacco addiction or should we say cigarettes addiction is a very serious issue, because this habit is extremely difficult to quit. People all over the planet have a major issue with smoking, and are unable to quit, despite the fact that it is deadly, unhealthy and as a habit – very expensive. Hazards of smoking cigarettes are known to people worldwide but however, millions of them are still unable to say “enough is enough” and quit successfully.

It looks quite bizarre when you think of it – embracing something that is slowly killing you, but it is a major problem, it starts in your head and is very serious issue. It requires a lot of mental power and inner strength to even try to quit, and to focus on healthier lifestyle. Rarely, smokers manage to quit without any help, or assistance, just by using their will power. More often serious smokers need to purchase custom made products to help them beat this habit or even ask for professional help.

Among many seriously effective products which help you say goodbye to smoking, we recommend the fast and effective “magic stick” known as the electronic cigarette. Electronic cigarettes are becoming more and more popular around the world nowadays, and are also called e-cigarettes or personal vaporizers. They are an alternative to smoking real cigarettes and inhaling tobacco and their main ingredient is a vaporized solution (which provides a certain amount or dose of nicotine, to be inhaled). The vapour also contains flavours which are similar to what you feel when inhaling tobacco, and that is why millions of smokers chose them to help in a quitting process.

Electric cigarettes have been recognized as one of the most effective methods for stopping or quitting smoking. There is a huge variety of electric cigarettes which can be purchased in almost majority of countries in the world. Some of these Ecigs look like a long tube, but many of them are designed and created to actually look like a real smoking device; cigar, cigarette or even a pipe. Older versions (but still available on various markets) look like a ballpoint pen, and some Ecigs even have disposable parts.

Here is how E-cigarette works: when you inhale air flow is easily recognized by a sensor which instantly activates a heating part that vaporizes a solution with nicotine which is ergonomically positioned in the mouthpiece. Modern versions also include LED part which lights up and is positioned at the end of each Ecig.

Next to electronic cigarettes, there are few more very popular “quit smoking” products and services like aromatherapy and acupuncture. Aromatherapy includes medical usage of medicinal plants which can help solve various health issues and problems. Acupuncture is, on the other hand, an extremely popular branch of alternative medicine which is based on physical stimulation of certain parts and components of our body.

These are all very popular ways and methods of saying bye to smoking, so consider them seriously, once you decide to embrace new, healthier lifestyle.

Who knows what magic there is within nicotine and how it enslaves millions just within a short period? Analysis of its chemical properties has been made possible but it still remains as an enigma why people who start smoking in their teens find it utterly difficult to quit it even when they feel that they must do it for their own benefit. They may be helped with the following quit smoking tips.

Campaign against the practice of smoking has been made more intense in wider parts of the world. This is a systematic campaign describing in what ways nicotine of tobacco tells upon continuously the general health of the smoker and simultaneously his or her friends and relatives. Goodness of a large section of people responds positively to the knowledge they are receiving although there are larger section of humanity who love to remain indifferent.

A section of the people suggests that smoking tobacco may easily be given up if the smokers shift to any alternative kind of habit. In India and in many of the oriental countries chewing betel leaves instead of smoking cigarettes has been tried by some people. It is funny to note that they have been victim of both kinds of addictions in the long run.

It has also been attempted to quit smoking habit step by step. The smokers have been asked to reduce their everyday quota. Some smokers have also tried and still today in different region of the world a section of the smokers are honest in such attempt. This is to mean that this experiment has been going on. The result so far received cannot be called encouraging at all. Actually smokers are not allowed to live freely away from the effect of nicotine. Thus they feel that they are on the way of leaving cigarettes for good. But finally they are pulled back to their ‘old and golden’ days.

A section of the smokers has been found to have given up smoking for ever. This experience has encouraged the people who are spreading the message of warnings from door to door. Campaign against smoking must be made intensive and the task is to spread the warnings extensively. It has been accepted as a fact that people who smoke cigarettes have chanced to get affected by the deadly disease like cancer. It is an established fact that the passive smokers are sure to be affected more. Demand of the time is that all the media in every country, both offline and online, must highlight evil effects of tobacco smoking on daily-basis.

Smokers of the world must be motivated by the use of well-earned knowledge and by counseling them steadily. Still all theses efforts will yield nothing unless the people involved do not want to change their own habit.

Quitting smoking isn’t just about finding new ways to keep your hands occupied—it’s about changing the way we feel about cigarettes. Although many smoking cessation programs focus on the physical aspects of smoking, the root of the addiction is buried deep within our emotions. Without changing the way we feel about cigarettes, we will continually lapse and start smoking again. This is why so many people try to quit smoking and fail—they haven’t figured out that the real addiction isn’t physical.

The idea that cigarettes represent the promise of relief to so many problems is deeply ingrained within us. As smokers, we are not simply responding to the ingredients encased within the paper wrapping; to us, cigarettes are something we can always rely on to help us through a difficult or stressful part of our lives. Unfortunately, when we stop learning to deal with emotional problems as they occur, and rely instead on cigarettes, we forget that our emotions can be dealt with in a healthy manner.

Cigarettes become a much more important part of our emotional lives than they should be; we start sacrificing our health for what we think is a solution to our stress, but in fact is only a clever way of hiding the real problem. By separating what cigarettes actually do to us physically from what we subconsciously think they’re doing to us emotionally, we can see them for the harmful substitutes they are, and cure ourselves of the desire to ever smoke them again.

Re-conceptualizing cigarettes in this way takes commitment, but the results are astonishing, and absolutely worth the effort. You can think of it this way; imagine trying to fix a car by constantly changing the spark plugs, when what it really needs is some new oil. You end up spending hundreds of dollars changing the spark plugs, but the car still doesn’t drive smoothly. It’s a frustratingly simple problem, but because you don’t know what the real problem is, you can’t fix the car. Luckily, you can finally quit smoking permanently because you understand where your addiction lies. Once you change the way you feel about cigarettes, you will never want to smoke again.

When a smoker reaches for their last cigarette when they can’t get more in a timely manner, it creates anxiety. Some people think this is due to nicotine withdrawal but it’s not. The person is anxious, not because they need a cigarette at the moment, but because they know they won’t have one for their next cigarette break. This has nothing to do with physical needs because they still have that last cigarette in the pack to smoke. It is because the cigarette is part of the smoker’s self-image. In this article, we will discuss how smoking becomes a part of an individual’s self-image and how this is a key foundation of the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. This mechanism is why it is hard to quit smoking.

The Smoker Starts at an Early Age

The average age that a person starts smoking cigarettes is around fifteen. It is sometimes even younger and other times a little older but the time window is usually between the ages of 12 and 16. This time frame corresponds to puberty which is a very difficult and intense period in a person’s life. The changes of puberty result in an Identity Crisis. The impact of puberty is so unpleasant, people tend to start forgetting about it as soon as it is over. How often do you fondly reminisce about the age of 14? If you are like most people, memories of the time between the ages of 12 and 16 are vague because they were so chaotic and unpleasant. Yet, it is the chaos and intensity of this time that creates the Psychological Smoking Mechanism and empowers it. So, it is important to review just what happens during puberty and the Identity Crisis.

Puberty and the Identity Crisis

The one experience that every human being shares in childhood is the Identity Crisis. It is universal no matter what country or culture. Yet, the full impact of this time is ignored. Many of the problems that manifest later in adulthood can be traced back to this time. Smoking is one such problem that is forged in the crucible of puberty. Why does puberty cause an Identity Crisis? It is the rapid change of the body in a short period of time after years of slow, steady growth. The body changes so rapidly, the mind doesn’t have time to adjust. As everyone knows, we all start out very small. As adults, we look at infants and can’t relate to ever having been that small. How many times have you looked at an infant and said to yourself, “I was once that small”? It just doesn’t happen! We don’t like to remind ourselves of being in such a helpless situation. Just think about how you feel if you happen to be around your mom when she starts reminiscing to her friends about when you were a baby! I have seen many a young adult turn bright red with embarrassment. When a baby is born, the development cycle is such that the infant starts out very small and grows rapidly, about an inch per month, the first year. The second year, the growth rate slows to about 1/2 inch per month and between age of three and puberty, the growth rate slows to about two inches per year. It is slow enough that we adjust to it without much difficulty. A fraction of an inch a month of growth is not very noticeable and although we are slowing getting larger, we adapt our self-image. Because we acclimate to the slow rate of change, we have an identity; we know who we are.

Who Is That in the Mirror?

Then, we enter puberty. It varies from person to person but usually starts between the ages of 12 – 14 although it can start earlier. The slow, predictable change that has gone on for 9 to 11 years is suddenly, and in some instances, shockingly speeded up. In a short period of time, many physical and emotional changes take place. When the growth spurts start, it is usually double what it was between age three and puberty although for some people it is even greater. In a matter of months, the body is noticeably bigger. The rate of growth speeds up to the point that the person can experience “growing pains” and in some cases, stretch marks. In addition to size change, the individual starts to develop sexually. Familiar body parts start to change. For boys in particular, the voice changes with embarrassing results. It seems as if each time the person looks in the mirror, they are different. After years of a known self-image, a stranger is staring back from the mirror! A stranger with a 5 o’clock shadow or, for the girls, a stranger with a rapidly increasing chest!

Emotional Chaos

In addition to this massive growth spurt, the person experiences emotions that are greatly amplified by the flood of hormones. Also at this time, new feelings of sexuality emerge. This intense amplification of emotions and physical sensations is overwhelming. It is almost too intense and results in some embarrassing situations for both boys and girls. A consequence is that every event has a greater emotional impact than it would under normal circumstances. The increased emotion causes positive events to be more positive and negative events to be more negative. Amplified emotion is what leads to the creation of the Psychological Smoking Mechanism.

The Twilight Zone – Between Childhood and Adulthood

For the adolescent, puberty is a nightmare. They don’t look like themselves, they don’t feel like themselves, they have feelings they never had before, they have body features they didn’t have before, their voice is not the same, they are taller, favorite clothes and shoes are outgrown quickly, and many other changes. Adults are no help because they take the attitude that everyone goes through this experience. This response is due to the repression of their own puberty experiences. Believe me, the typical adult attitude towards the changes of puberty is no consolation to a young person whose world has been turned upside down! In addition to amplified emotions and sensations, there is the added burden of shaving for both boys and girls, and of course for girls, bras and tampons. The carefree life of the child is shattered. To add to the stress, school has become much more complicated by requiring the student to change rooms many times per day with different teachers for each class and harder courses. Gone is the security of a single classroom with a familiar teacher and a small group of peers that you got to know by being around them all day.

Misery Loves Company

Since adults seem to dismiss the changes of puberty as trivial, an adolescent in the chaos of puberty looks to people who can relate to what is happening to them. They turn to their peers, who are also experiencing the same things, so they don’t feel alone in this massive assault on the childhood self-image. The common realization each adolescent shares is that the old identity doesn’t work anymore. No longer a child but not considered an adult either. The only security the adolescent sees is being an adult but, they aren’t mentally or emotionally there yet. So, the peer solution is an attempt to force the title of adult. This is done by attempting to copy behaviors that are considered adult only. The two most common choices of adult behavior are the forbidden ones of drinking alcohol and smoking.

Smoking is Hard, Getting Drunk is Not

Of the two “adult” behaviors that the adolescent chooses to declare adulthood, the one with the most prestige and peer approval is smoking. This is because the hardest thing about drinking alcohol is getting it; anyone can drink and get drunk. However, smoking is different. Smoking is very hard to do. A person has to go through a learning process to suppress the normal body protective mechanism. It is a miserable time but the motivation is driven by the amplified emotion of puberty and desperation to define an identity as an adult. Intense emotions give more power to the motivation and allows them to force themselves through the miserable, time consuming process of learning to smoke. Obviously, not everyone has the force of will to do so but a large percentage who choose smoking persist and learn to smoke. When the adolescent succeeds in being able to smoke, they are the envy of their peers, most of whom cannot smoke. They join the small, elite group of smokers and are considered accomplished. And why not, after all they have mastered a very difficult task; learned Mind over Matter to suppress the normal body protective reaction. They have created the Psychological Smoking Mechanism.

Smoking and Self-Confidence

Peer approval, the small club of smokers, the daring rebellion of breaking the rules by violating the law, and the perceived rebellious independence (who hasn’t looked on with admiration at the smokers plotting a cigarette break in the high school bathroom between 3rd and 4th period?), are very important to the adolescent. The ability to smoke cigarettes gives them prestige that they see the majority of their peers do not have. This is one of the building blocks of the Psychological Smoking Mechanism: smoking makes me special and admired. Unfortunately, the young smoker gives power to the cigarette and feels that without it, they would not, and this is probably correct, have the attention that smoking gives them from both adults and peers. Smoking has become a part of their self-image because it gives them confidence. This confidence usually leads to other successes which in turn, are attributed to smoking when in reality, it is the confidence that led to success, not smoking; they just don’t realize it.

Conclusion

A person usually learns to smoke during the changes of puberty when they are trying to establish an adult identity. They are not a child but not yet an adult so they seek what they consider adult activities to declare themselves an adult. Among their peers, smoking has the highest status because it is hard to do and most young people won’t or cannot do it. This results in admiration and prestige from their peers and adult attention that they would likely not have otherwise. Smoking gives the young person confidence which in turn allows their natural abilities to produce success in other areas. The cigarette is given the credit when in reality, it is their confidence in themselves that produce the additional success. Due to this misconception, the young person believes the ability to smoke cigarettes has given them things they wouldn’t have otherwise and without smoking, they would not have the other successes. This is a key foundation of the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. Removing the impact of these beliefs is an important step towards becoming a non-smoker.

© R. Michael Stone, All Rights Reserved